I'm back. I think.

I haven't updated this since January. I know. Shame on me. I don't know if anyone even looks at this anymore, it's been so long. But I think I'm finally over the hill with this tendonitis thing. My knee has been doing better and I'm starting to gain back (a little) of my speed. Since January, I've gained about 12-15 pounds and lost a lot of fitness, so it's been a struggle the last couple months to get back to where I was probably a year and a half or even two years ago.

I need to set some goals for myself, now that I am able to run 3-4 miles easily, about 5 times a week. That's how my weekly miles should be, 3-4 miles, and I should be able to start running longer on the weekends (and that is very exciting).

So I need to find a fall half-marathon (because I am determined to run another one; I haven't run a half since last April!). I need to come up with a training schedule. I've been keeping a notebook this week to keep track of my runs: my route, my splits, etc. I've been doing pretty even splits, too, which is new! I need to send my Garmin in and have it fixed because it keeps getting WAY off on time, so I've been using just a regular watch-stopwatch and that's been nice.

Today I am going to go half-marathon shopping online and try to find one I can train for. In the short-term, I am going to try to work on my 3-mile pace because I want to do well on the 4th of July 5k in town (I doubt I will be able to do an 8k comfortably by then). I'm excited. This knee is finally starting to work itself out! :D

I also need to change the header on this blog. It's past May 16, I didn't wind up training for the Green Bay marathon... so that needs to change, for sure.

But most of all, I need to shower. 70 degrees (at 6:30 am!) and 99% humidity means very sweaty. (And by the way, 6:30 is late for me now. During the week, I work from 7 to 3:30 at my new job, so I get up to run at 4:30 just like my dad does. It's crazy early, but it's always cooler and very pretty!)

I will definitely update this blog when I've found my half-marathon choices. I'll have to sleep on them for a while, but I'll definietly be browsing today!

So it has been almost a month since my last post. I've been doing a lot of cross training, and slowly getting back into running. I've been biking 8-12 miles on the days that I work out, and run 1-2 miles. I've been trying to run 2 a day the last couple days I've ran (Thursday and today). The knee is definitely getting better. I'm running with a patellar brace strap thing on and that helps. I'm looking forward to being able to do 3-4 at a time, and getting back on my old half marathon schedule. Hopefully, I can do a half this spring and still train for a full sometime in September or October.

Once I stop biking and start running fulltime again, I'll have to start updating my blog regularly. But until then, I don't really see the point in documenting my recovery workouts. It should be another 2 weeks until I'm good to go and am weaned off the bike. :) See you then!

Days Thirty-Five and Thirty-Six

Miles: Big fat 0

So... went to the doctor. She says I have patellar tendonitis. So I'm probably not going to be able to run for a couple weeks. I'll be cross training back at the fitness center at school as of Monday, when it reopens, but still... :( I like running better!

This sucks. :/

Day Thirty-Four

Miles: 6
Time: 53:34
Pace: 8:56
Splits: 8:44, 8:54, 8:45, 9:10, 9:10, 8:53

I HATE MY STUPID DUMB KNEE!

So I managed to get my dad to run with me, since he is home from work today. We ran 6 miles outside. The Weather Channel said it was about 10 degrees out and felt like 4, but our house thermometer said it was 24 degrees. It felt more around 20 than 4 degrees, so I am guessing the Weather Channel was just on crack.

Today's run was really, really painful; not gonna lie. My knee was starting to actually hurt around 1.75 miles, which is never good when you are running for another 4.25 miles. It wasn't feeling good when we turned around at 3 miles and around 4.3 miles, we went under an overpass and something twinged in my knee and it hurt REALLY bad. At 5 miles on my watch and about 5.1 on my dad's (our Garmins are way off from each other, it's weird) we went up this hill to go on a bridge on the trail and my leg slipped in some snow a little and my knee hurt a lot. And I just stopped and rubbed my knee and started crying. I felt totally pathetic and really frustrated.

We took it kind of slow the last mile back to the house, but my knee hardly hurt after the brief stop while I was crying like a baby. :/

But I have a doctor appointment set up for Thursday at 8:30 am. So I should be getting some answers soon. My dad told me not to run 8 miles tomorrow. I'll probably just do 2-4 before work. I'll wrap up my knee after I take a shower, and hopefully that helps. Meh. :(

Days Thirty-two and Thirty-Three

Miles: 10
Time: 1:29:00
Pace: 8:54
Splits: 8:36, 8:39, 8:18, 8:51, 9:33, 8:42, 8:57, 9:08, 9:19, 8:52

FIRST: The 9:33 split is about 30 seconds slow because my Garmin screen went off training mode and I had to stop to get it back to normal and discovered that the time was running the whole time. Oops. That permanently upset my pace for the rest of the run (but not by much, looking at the later splits).

Okay, so it was cold out. Around 15 or so degrees, about 6-8 mph breeze. My mom dropped my dad and I off at this park at the top of the canyon only to find that the trail was closed. So my dad and I ran around 3.5 miles down the side of a highway to this park where we could get onto a cleared section of the trail. Then we found that the trail still had snow on it (but just a little bit) so we ran on that for about a mile until the parts that had basically no snow (during which time my Garmin got all funky).

Around 5 miles, my knee started to get tight and act up. By around 5.5 miles, it was a lost cause. By about mile 7.5-8, the miles just seemed to go on forever. I seriously had to try really, really hard to keep myself from getting upset and crying. Like, my miles weren't THAT bad for the last 3 miles, but it just hurt and was really frustrating. But I made it! 10 whole miles! :D

I really, really want to get my knee checked out. Just so I can figure out what to do with it so I'm not running half+ of my runs in pain anymore.


Miles: 4
Time: 35:08
Pace: 8:46
Splits: to be posted

Getting used to the altitude... only to go home Monday. Woooooo! It was really cold, about 8-10 degrees, but without the bitter Iowa wind which made it far more tolerable. It was mostly flat, which made it easier. Knee didn't bug me too much, so that is good. My breathing was horrible though because it was so cold and the whole second mile was a gradual incline. It got much better on the way back to the car.

Day Thirty-One

Miles: 4
Time: to be posted
Pace: 9:17
Splits: to be posted

It is official, I hate higher altitudes. I can't breathe enough for running! :( I feel like I have bronchitis all over again. Ick.

Run today was slow. There was a lot of ice covered in a thin layer of snow, so my dad and I were running really cautiously. I almost fell about 12 times, and my dad hardly ever almost fell but did for real fall with about .40 left of the run.

I have no idea where/how we are going to run 10 miles on Sunday. My lungs just suck with the cold, dry, high altitude air. But we'll just get it done... very slowly. :/

My knee bothered me, as usual. But I have been wrapping it and that makes it feel better afterwards. So that's good at least.

Day Thirty

Miles: 4
Time: to be posted
Pace: 9:05
Splits: to be posted

So we skiied yesterday, but aren't going today because it is supposed to SUPERSNOW out here and we don't want to ski in the mess. But skiing was not kind to me yesterday. The boots were really tight on my shins/calves because my calves are SO HUGE in their muscle-ness. My shins hurt a lot, and I stopped skiing around 2:45 while my dad and brothers skiied til, like, 4:30. I woke up this morning and my knees, shins and butt were all sore.

But my dad and I went out and ran 4 miles before the SUPERSNOW anyway. The first .75 of a mile (and the last) were all smoggy b/c the air here is all stagnant. It smelled like exhaust and it was gross. But then we got above it going up the canyon and it was better. But I felt like I did when I had bronchitis over the summer. It was hard to breathe and I felt like I was working hard, but I was still going really slow (especially b/c the first two miles were basically all uphill).

My left knee gave me problems by about 2.7 miles and my shins were sore for the first 2 miles and change, especially the right one. That one got the most squished in my ski boots. My hips were pretty sore too from skiing. Resting the rest of today + tomorrow = good idea.

Also: I have tried to Google what might be wrong with my knee, but I can't find anything. Like, it hurts below my knee and above it, but also when it gets bad every 10-20 steps will shoot pain across the front of my knee cap. I can't find anything online that matches those symptoms. I am going to the doctor when I get back home, but meh. I wish the internet could be more helpful. :/

Day Twenty-Nine

Miles: 5
Time: 41:50
Pace: 8:22
Splits: Too lazy to look

Dad and I ran 5 this morning. I got some awesome new cold weather pants for our early Christmas, and they were awesome. They're Adidas and super warm and fit a million times better than the Underarmor ones I bought last year (I bought mediums instead of smalls for the UA ones... uh, bad choice). It was an okay run. My knee was pretty sore at the end of it, and my Garmin was .06 of a mile behind my dad's watch (so I took his distance/time/pace).

Going to Utah tomorrow, so I won't be running Sunday, or Monday (my usual rest day). I may or may not run Tuesday, depending on if I ski or not. Then Wednesday is rest b/c it is an easy week. So it's gonna be easy this week! :D And hopefully, skiing will be kinder to my knee.

When I get back fro vacation, though, I am (for real!) going to go see a doctor about my knee. See if there's anything I can do about it. (Also on my list: orthodonist and eye doctor). Woo hoo, money to be spent!

Day Twenty-Seven

Miles: 7
Time: 1:00:09
Pace: 8:35
Splits: 8:37, 8:30. 8:30 8:34, 8:35, 8:38, 8:41

I skipped yesterday's 5 miler because I was going to be moving my shit/moving furniture in a new dorm room all day (it took us about 4 hours) and that counted as a workout. I totally worked up a sweat (especially when making my bed on my loft... eek!)

TODAY'S run, however, went really well. I worked up the courage to run outside. It was 24 degrees with about 9 mph winds (though they were basically CONSTANT for the first half of my run, so my face felt pretty cold/numb/windburnt when I got home). I ran REALLY consistent splits, which made me pretty happy. :) My knee hurt for miles 5 and 6, but really eased up on the last mile, which was good. I only stopped, like, 4 times, too. Twice for traffic, twice to try to warm up my face. :P

I ran on the trail because I didn't want to run on the treadmill or have to fight people's sidewalks or traffic, and it worked out pretty well. There were a few spots where ice was all the way across the path, so I had to run on the ice/snow bits on the side where the grass is, which was fun because it was really crunchy. I could tell where ice really affected my pace though, because the faster miles were also dry miles and they just FELT faster. It was nice to have something to think about (dodging ice) instead of just running, like on the track. Though the track is nice, I'm an outdoors runner at heart. :)

I totally saw a duck with a broken wing, though, when I was running around the lake, and it totally broke my heart. Because how is it going to fly south for the winter if it can't even fly away from me? I felt so bad for it, because it was scared of me but couldn't go anywhere. At least I'm a nice person and don't terrorize ducks.

On the subject of birds, though, there were a ton of geese and a few ducks still hanging around. WTF? Shouldn't they be flying south for the winter? I mean, it's December. And it's Iowa. There's ice and snow and COLD everywhere! Were they just as surprised by the foot of snow we got a week ago as all we humans were?

Hmmph. Anyway, pretty decent run. I have to work from 11-6 tomorrow, so I will have to run in the morning. 6 miles outside in the AM when it's colder, on the treadmill where I won't have any motivation? Ugh, temperatures will tell.

Oh, and my knee is sort of sore just sitting here. Ugh... I want to go see what's wrong with the damn thing.

Day Twenty-Six

Miles: 9
TIme: 1:21:05
Pace: 9:00
Splits: n/a

9 miles on the track. 63 laps in lane 3. Holy moly.

Well... we did it!

And a lot slower than we'd have liked. We started off at a good clip. The first mile was 8:25. Then the laps went from about 1:12 to 1:14 to 1:18 to 1:20... and it was a lost cause. My knee started hurting at about mile 4 and hurt until probably 8.5 miles. That slowed us down a lot. And I was pretty thirsty the whole time... meh.

It wasn't too bad though. My dad and I chatted quite a bit and whatever, and I got to watch a bunch of old guys play tennis and got passed (once, it took him a long time to catch up to us) by a professor who was running a couple miles. I was kind of disappointed by the pace, though. I hoped to run more of an 8:30-8:40 pace. I think I just got stuck in a slow rut because it was just going around and around in the same place and my knee hurt for so long.

My last lap though was 1:08. :) My dad was one lap ahead of me because at 6 miles I stopped while he ran a lap so I could massage my knee a bit (it felt better after that, but still hurt) and I wanted to get under 1:21:00. I went 5 seconds over... but that's close enough. :P

AND NOW! To study for my religion and western civ finals like you wouldn't believe. SO NOT READY FOR TERM TO BE OVER! I don't want to take finals!

Day Twenty

Miles: 4
Time: 33:13
Pace: 8:17
Splits: 7:59, 8:30, 8:24, 8:17

COLD! IT IS WINTERY NOW AND IT IS COLD! My lips are now in the begging stages of chapped-ness, my eyes are dry and trying to leak all over my face, my nose is running and my cheeks are numb. Wind + cold = NOT COOL.

And you know what else isn't cool? Waking up with a mysterious pain from your hip to your knee to your ankle, having it go away while you run, only to have a right ankle tendon thing spasm 4 times during your run. And to have various parts of your body just HURT. And then have your knee get all hurty and weird feeling so that you have to take the elevator to your floor of your dorm.

Today was not a fun run. We'll see how the 9 miler tomorrow goes. :/

Day Seventeen

Miles: 5
Time: 41:17
Pace: 8:15
Splits: 8:00, 8:26, 8:21, 8:20, 8:08

Not going to complain about the splits. They were fairly consistent, and the second split was so slow because I had to run uphill, against the wind, for about .1 of a mile. At least, that's my story and I'm sticking to it. :P

On a really really happy note: It is December 1, and it was 55 degrees outside. It was warm with sunshine and I was perfectly comfortable running in an Underarmor t-shirt and shorts. It was gorgeous. If this was a real fall-->winter time, there would be snow on the ground and it would be in the high 20s and low 30s by now. This is unusually warm, but I'm not complaining. :D

I felt like a total wimp today, though. I stopped probably 4-5 times in the first 2.5 miles because my right calf kept getting really tight. So I'd stop, stretch it out, shake it out, and keep going, only to have to get uncomfortable and tight and blegh all over again. It eventually stopped, though, which was a relief. My knee started getting sore around 3 miles. Not the same swollen feeling as Sunday (though would have been had I ran longer), but a pain/soreness across the top and along the bottom of my knee cap. I have no idea what it is, but I iced it and it feels okay now.

Another goal now: GET THE KNEE TO STOP HURTING. That would make my life. :P

Day Sixteen

Miles: 8
Time: 1:10:23
Pace: 8:48
Splits: 8:34, 9:10, 8:55, 8:56, 8:46, 8:47, 8:28, 8:45

Pretty decent run this morning. Headed out around 9:15 on a route my dad and I haven't ran in pretty much a year. It was a good route, not too many hills, but the one in the second mile is "Death Hill" and it kicked my butt. :P It was a nice run though, in a neighborhood we basically never run in, so it was cool. It was around 40 degrees, but a constant 10 mph wind for the first half, then it was at our back for the last half.

It went really well the first 4-5 miles. You can't tell from my splits (which were surprisingly even the last 6 miles!) but my knee was killing me. The hills were horrible. There was one short one in the fifth mile and in the second to last mile was an uphill followed by Death Hill going downhill. The last 3 miles were pain but I got through it OK, as the splits say so. :)

I really want to figure out this knee. It's still kind of sore, but it isn't swollen anymore. I iced it when I got home and I've been chilling all day, but I still have to work 6 hours tonight. :( Working 6 hours a day the last two days probably hasn't helped either, and is probably some of the reason my legs are sore. They were tired even when I woke up this morning.

ARGH MY KNEE. SAD FACES GALORE.

But my right ankle tendon thing didn't bug me today. :D

Day Fifteen

Miles: 4
Time: 33:27
Pace: 8:22
Splits: 7:59, 8:18, 8:41, 8:30

(Note: The third split is so slow because I had to run over icy spots twice, and stopped for 10 seconds to tighten my shoe so my leg wasn't so hurty.)

COLD WEATHER ARRRRRGH!!!!!! I never know what to wear! It is 30 degrees. So I wear a thin, but insulating running jacket over a running t-shirt and a sports bra. Shorts over leggings. My ankle-height socks. SHOES. A hat. Gloves. The gloves come off around 1.2 miles. My arms start to get hot around 2 miles. I get home and I'm sweaty and gross because it is hot inside. I don't want to go out in just, like, a t-shirt and shorts/leggings (my legs were fine the whole run) because then I just look crazy. But my hands and arms get so freaking HOT! And they felt really heavy the last couple of runs, too. I've been taking vitamins, maybe I need to add something else in. :(

But I DO need to start eating more bananers (and probably drinking more water). My left quad/knee and my right ankle tendon thing were really tight the whole run, except the first mile. It is really, really annoying. I am glad that I've been running with my dad the last couple days or else I would chicken out of my 4 milers and run 3 instead. :( 4 mile runs just suck necause that is when my random aches peak, and then they go away after 4-5 miles. Yuck.

8 miles tomorrow; I get to pick the route. Excitement!

Day Fourteen

Miles: 4
Time: 32:33
Pace: 8:20
Splits: 7:57, 8:20, 8:30, 8:32

COLD. THIS RUN WAS FREEZING COLD. (And this update is seriously late.) Went out with my dad around 8 in the morning... to fresh 20-30 mph winds and a regular air temp of 35 degrees. COLD COLD COLD.

Other than that, it was ok. My knee started to get tight, and a tendon in my right shin/ankle was tight, but neither stayed long or hurt very bad. It was a really hilly run the middle 2 miles. The last one, my knee was still kind of tight, so I wasn't too motivated. And most of it was against the wind, so I was frozen. :P

But Thanksgiving was great. We headed to my grandparents' and had a delicious feast. It was well worth the running effort in the morning.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING, EVERYONE!


**PS: Does anyone know why I would be getting weird muscle spasm-y things in the tendon coming up from my right ankle to about halfway up my shin/calf? It's very uncomfortable and hurts for about 2-5 seconds, then goes away. What is UP!?

Day Eight

Miles: 4
Time: 33:10
Pace: 8:16
Splits: 8:02, 8:21, 8:24, 8:19

This is coming to ya'll a day late, because all my runs are pushed back a day. Instead of running Tues-Thurs, resting Friday and running Sat-Sun, I am running straight Wed-Sun. My monthly monster (which only comes every 3 months realy, thanks to magic pills) arrived with a vengeance and I spent Monday and Tuesday curled up with a heating pad, barely able to motivate myself to do homework, let alone run (I hardly even wanted to move to go get dinner!). I felt a lot better today, though, so I got myself out the door.

It was cloudy. It was misting. It was gross and cold, but it was good for running. My left knee started to tighten up the last half mile, so I just kept going without pause. My right shin felt really weird (across it, which I hate) like it just had a big weak spot in the middle. It went away after 3.5 or so miles, which is then when my knee started to get tight... ugh. I had to stop a few times (once for a train!) which was disheartening.

Not the greatest run, but oh well. Still paced okay, and not in any real pain. The trainers weren't there when I got back, though, so I couldn't ice my knee, which kind of sucked. So I took a 30 minute shower instead. :)

6 miles tomorrow! I need to find a good route that'll keep me going... running by the streets usually helps, but the streets around campus have stop lights that usually hold me up at nearly every corner. So I will have to be quite clever...

Day Seven

Miles: 8
Time: 1:09:45
Pace: 8:43
Splits: 8:18, 8:26, 9:17, 8:40, 8:30, 8:47, 9:09, 8:36

So, I stayed over at my house last night because I had to work until 8 pm, then again at noon, so I figured it would be simplest for me to wake up and run at home with my dad. I got out of bed, checked the weather... and it was 32 degrees. I facepalmed, as I only had a long-sleeved tech shirt, an underarmor tech-cotton t-shirt and shorts. So I borrowed a fleece headband from my dad and we headed out at 8:15.

Surprisingly, I warmed up pretty fast. About a mile or mile-and-a-half in, my hands were warm and I rolled up my sleeves a bit. My legs numbed up from the cold, which was nice. My ears were warm but my cheeks were frozen. It definitely felt like winter running... and I loved it. :)

I think you can tell where the big hill was in this route. Mile 3, you might ask? DING DING DING! My dad dragged me up about a mile and a half of hills and I totally made him walk for about 5-10 seconds with me because my leg felt like it was about to cramp up, it was so tight.

It was nice running around in my general neighborhood again, on a route I already knew. Familiar territory, but we ran in the fancy neighborhoods and that is always a good distraction. We missed a little leg of it, though, and had to make up about half a mile at the end. There were lots of hills, but I got better with them after the first big one. I would much rather run up hills (generally speaking) than down them... much less pain involved in the knee area.

But around 5.5 miles, my left knee just started killing. I could feel that it was swollen all around it (below, outside, above) and it hurt across the top of my kneecap too. Around 6.5 miles, I just wanted to stop... so that mile was pretty slow. I made it home and sat down in the living room to ice it (not that it really needed it, as my legs were still so cold from being outside). Then I took a shower, and my legs feel okay now, just tired from running 8 hilly miles.

This week as SO MUCH BETTER than last week, even with the knee pain. My pace was pretty consistent and I felt so much better through the whole thing. We only stopped once, and that was the 5-10 second walk. I think that pacing under 9:00 is no problem, so hopefully I can keep it up when I get into the really heavy mileage early next year. Out of 10 stars, I would give this one probably... 7.5-8. Without the screaming knee, it would have been really great.

Day Four

Miles: 5
Time: 41:01
Pace: 8:11
Splits: 7:59, 8:01, 8:24, 8:16, 8:17

This run felt so much better than the last few runs! :D Hallelujah!

The weather was absolutely gorgeous again today. Probably between 60 and 65. Sunny. Just fantastic for running and feeling good. Can November just be like this every year?

The first couple miles felt really good. I had pains that would come and go every half mile or so. But that's pretty typical for me to have moving, phantom pains like that. The next mile was pretty slow, and I'm not really sure why. The last two ended up being really even and pretty quick and I was pretty surprised. I did have to stop about 3 times, though because my shoe was hating on me and once because of traffic. (Those aren't counted in my time, though, because my dad says I'm a cheater that way.)

I'm icing my left knee right now, which I feel will be a regular thing for a while. It was visibly swollen again when I got back and it felt tight above my knee. I don't know what the issue is, but this should prevent it from getting worse and hopefully make it go away.

I am totally relishing in this weather, though. This is such a nice break from how November usually starts. It's beautiful outside! I am not looking forward to having to pile on layers of cold gear in a few weeks. Ugh. But as for now, I am going to go do tons of reading for the week outside while it's beautiful and pray for gorgeous weather again for my run tomorrow!

Day 2

Miles: 7

Time: 1:02:34

Pace: 8:56

Splits: 8:32, 8:53, 9:10, 8:43, 9:12, 9:14, 8:50

A pretty decent run, but my legs didn't seem to want me to run at all. I started out and my shin under my knee felt really weak and weird, but that went away (thank God). Around my left knee and my left quad/hip got really tight the last 2.5 or so miles, though, and that kind of ruined it for me. It didn't hurt, really, but it made me feel slow and miserable.

But we started off from next to my dorm and went off campus and to Bever Ave, which is a really cool street (though, we found, mostly all a slight incline). There are HUGE, beautiful houses down there and it's a really cute neighborhood to run through. Then we went through Bever Park... where I accidently had thrown in a HUGE HILL at mile 3 when I mapped the route. My dad and I go to the top and we could hardly breathe. I apologized profusely. I'd totally forgotten that park had a hill, and it kicked my ass.

Most of then run after that was flat, though, just a little bit of hills around another college in the area that we ran around. My leg was all tight and bothersome, but I tried not to whine about it. It is just troublesome because that leg never gave me problems during all of cross country season. But it might just be because I took the last week off, so it's just out of practice.

Either way, we still managed to pace under 9 minute miles and we got back to campus at 7 miles on the dot (even though we accidently took two detours and had to make up where to go next to get back on track). I still have all the streets written (in Sharpie) on my arm:

Out of ten stars, I'd give this run about a 7.5. It could have been better, physical-body wise, but it didn't feel like a long run. But the scenery was nice, generally speaking, and the weather was AMAZING. Probably right around 55-60 degrees. Is this seriously November?!

Day 1

Miles: 3

Time: 25:01

Pace: 8:20

Splits: 7:58, 8:28, 8:33

First day back in a week, so my legs were a little out of it. The first mile I was super ready to go. My legs were excited to be hitting the road again, but by the second mile my legs were acting up and saying, "Wait! What are we doing? We don't remember this!" The side of my right calf felt really weird, a little like it did a week ago when I decided I need to take a week off to heal. So I iced it, as well as my left knee, because that knee is just weird and tempermental.

All in all, it was a good run. It is GORGEOUS outside. It is the 7th of November and it is over 60 degrees already. This is Eastern Iowa I'm talking about! This is crazy weather! Two weeks ago, I was bundled up awaiting snow! This was a nice change; I even had to run without a shirt on because I got hot. This is going to be an awesome weekend for running/being outside. Last one for months, I'm sure!

I'm really looking forward to my 7 miler with my dad tomorrow. Hopefully my legs behave themselves because today was way harder than it was meant to be.

Goal for before the marathon: Learn to go out at an EASY PACE and run MORE UNIFORM MILE TIMES.